1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a circuit board connector with press-fit terminals.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,453,016, U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,989 and FIG. 11 herein relate to a circuit board connector. With reference to FIG. 11, the circuit board connector includes a housing 1 and a receptacle 2 is formed in an upper surface of the housing 1 for receiving a mating connector. The receptacle has a bottom wall 2A and press-fit terminals 3 penetrate the bottom wall 2A. Each press-fit terminal 3 has a resilient bulge 4, a stopper 5 above the resilient bulge 4 and a press-in portion 6 above the stopper 5. Upper ends of the press-fit terminals 3 project into the receptacle 2, and the resilient bulges 4 project down from the bottom wall 2A for insertion into through holes of a printed circuit board for connection.
The press-fit terminals 3 are inserted through press-in holes 7 in the bottom wall 2A from below until the stoppers 5 contact the edges of the press-in holes 7. However, the forces for locking the press-fit terminals 3 decrease in response to downward forces on the press-fit terminals 3, for example, upon fitting the mating connector into the receptacle 2.
The press-fit terminals 3 may be inserted from above to increase the locking forces in the downward direction. However, the press-in portions 6 are pressed into the press-in holes 7 after the resilient bulges 4 pass through the press-in holes 7. Thus, the press-fit portions 6 must be wider than the resilient bulges 4, thereby increasing the width of the press-fit terminals 3. This has been a problem if there are narrow intervals between the terminals 3.
The invention was developed in view of the above problem and an object thereof is to enable the terminal arrangement at narrower intervals while ensuring sufficient retaining forces.